The sense of hearing in human beings involves the use of hair cells in the cochlea that convert or transduce audio signals into auditory nerve impulses. Hearing loss, which may be due to many different causes, is generally of two types: conductive and sensorineural. Conductive hearing loss occurs when the normal mechanical pathways for sound to reach the hair cells in the cochlea are impeded. These sound pathways may be impeded, for example, by damage to the auditory ossicles. Conductive hearing loss may often be helped by the use of conventional hearing aids that amplify sound so that audio signals reach the cochlea and the hair cells. Some types of conductive hearing loss may also be treated by surgical procedures.
Sensorineural hearing loss, on the other hand, is caused by the absence or destruction of the hair cells in the cochlea which are needed to transduce acoustic signals into auditory nerve impulses. People who suffer from sensorineural hearing loss may be unable to derive significant benefit from conventional hearing aid systems, no matter how loud the acoustic stimulus is. This is because the mechanism for transducing sound energy into auditory nerve impulses has been damaged. Thus, in the absence of properly functioning hair cells, auditory nerve impulses cannot be generated directly from sounds.
To overcome sensorineural hearing loss, numerous auditory prosthesis systems (e.g., cochlear implant systems) have been developed. A typical auditory prosthesis system includes a sound processor configured to be located external to a patient and an auditory prosthesis configured to be implanted within the patient. The sound processor is configured to process audio signals presented to the patient and direct the auditory prosthesis to generate and apply electrical stimulation representative of the audio signals directly to stimulation sites (e.g., auditory nerve fibers) within the patient by way of one or more channels formed by an array of electrodes. Direct stimulation of the stimulation sites leads to the perception of sound in the brain and at least partial restoration of hearing function.
It is often desirable to log data associated with an operation of a sound processor included in an auditory prosthesis system. For example, statistics such as use of volume control, battery life, usage time, sound levels, and other data associated with the sound processor may be useful in order to assess a performance of the sound processor, adjust one or more control parameters governing an operation of the sound processor, and/or otherwise adjust a manner in which the sound processor operates. Such logging has typically been done by the speech processor itself. However, some patients utilize more than one sound processor. For example, a patient may have two sound processors that he or she interchangeably uses in connection with his or her auditory prosthesis. Unfortunately, the logging data acquired by each sound processor cannot be shared between the two sound processors. Hence, each sound processor cannot optimize its respective operation based on all of the logging data acquired by both sound processors.